There to Pick Up the Pieces
by lrose20
Summary: Danny just assumed Laura had chosen Carmilla because Carmilla was fascinating, beautiful, immortal. It never occurred to her that perhaps Laura was simply like a moth drawn to a flame, always going to something bigger and brighter.
1. A Knock at the Door

A week before Laura was due to graduate from Silas, there was a knock on Danny Lawrence's apartment door. It had been tempting for Danny to leave and never come back to this hell hole (a term that was all too literal for Silas) and never come back. To never be reminded of Laura Hollis or her damn vampire ever again. But she'd decided to stay in the end, and attend graduate school. If you'd asked her why she chose to stay, chances were that Danny wouldn't be able to give you a good answer. These past couple of months had been particularly hard, knowing that Laura was graduating and that Danny would never see her again. She wasn't sure she missed who Laura was now (honestly, Danny didn't know who Laura was anymore) But she did miss how things had been, before everything had gotten out of control with Carmilla.

Danny was ashamed to admit that when she heard the knock on her door, her heart gave a leap of excitement at the idea that it might be Laura, even if she was just coming to say goodbye. The person waiting on the other side of the door was however not Laura, but the last person Danny ever expected.

"Carmilla?"

"Hey, Xena."

Initial shock slowly faded, allowing Danny to take in Carmilla's appearance. The vampire typically looked perfect, in her ridiculous leather pants, tiny shirts, her hair all curled. The woman who stood in front of Danny looked nothing like this. She was wearing a pair of black jeans, a t-shirt with the name of some Austrian band, and her hair was pulled into a bun that one couldn't even try and call simply messy. In her hand, Carmilla held a bottle of some unlabeled alcohol, judging by the smell of it.

"What are you doing here? Don't tell me Laura didn't even have the balls to come talk to me herself." Danny's lip curled into a sneer, anger bubbling up inside her. She thought Laura was a better person than this. Danny's anger was thrown off course by a very undignified snort that Carmilla gave in response.

"Laura? Laura has no idea where I am."

Danny wasn't sure how to take this response, so she gathered her wits again, asking "So you came here without her saying it was okay? Going to try and warn me off? I'm not about to follow Laura out of here, how pathetic do you think I am?"

Carmilla rolled her eyes skyward, the affect a little less powerful than was intended given her eyes with glazed over from being so drunk. "Go after her, be my guest. Good luck getting her away from her new girlfriend though." The word girlfriend was less spoken than it was growled, and for a moment Danny vividly recalled Carmilla transforming into a giant black cat. She was quickly brought back to the present moment however as her brain had processed 'girlfriend'.

"What are you talking about? You're drunk, on my doorstep, talking about Laura's girlfriend. That's you, you zombie." Carmilla appeared highly offended by the term zombie, but Danny couldn't have cared less, continuing on with, "Go the hell away, I don't need Laura to have a nice life and to keep me out of it."

Carmilla bared her teeth, fangs emerging, as she growled again and slammed the bottle into the wall, smashing it into pieces and sending liquid flying everywhere. "You're not listening, Amazon. I'm not going to BE a part of Laura's life anymore."


	2. What the Hell?

Danny stared at Carmilla, her nose wrinkling involuntarily at the sharp smell of alcohol as it poured down the wall and filled the cracks of the cement pavement outside her door. What the hell had Carmilla been drinking?

"Yeah right, last I heard from Perry, you two were still as disgustingly obsessed with each other as before."

Danny hadn't intended on staying in contact with Perry or LaFontaine, since they'd continued to hang out with Laura and Carmilla, even after Carmilla's mother had finally been destroyed once and for all. LaFontaine was fine with Danny breaking off contact, they had been a bit bummed, but they understood that Danny needed to separate herself from them, if she was ever going to get over Laura. Perry however had not been as easy going about giving Danny space, and without ever meaning to, Danny had often ended up hearing updates from her, whenever they passed each other at an event.

Granted, it had been a while since she'd seen Perry, but she hadn't expected anything to have changed.

According to Carmilla's death glare, they had.

"This was a waste of time, why the hell did I come here?" Carmilla snapped, kicking a piece of broken glass, unconcerned that it could cut through her very thin sandal.

"That's an excellent question, why did you come here?" Danny concurred, crossing her arms in front of her chest and straightening to her full height, which she knew was nothing to scoff at.

"I don't know. I don't why I thought this was a good idea. Fuck this," Carmilla declared, turning on her heel and stomping off into the night. Danny stared after her, both pissed and confused. She didn't for one minute believe Carmilla was somehow out of Laura's life, she would need actual proof of that. But if Carmilla had come here to gloat about her going off with Laura and leaving Danny behind, it had been a poor effort.

Danny waited a few minutes more, but it was clear that Carmilla had no intention of returning. Muttering angrily about the mess Carmilla had left on her doorstep, Danny slammed the door shut, feeling worse than she had before


End file.
